Forum › General

1. StudBeefpile Sep 3, 2026 at 02:24 UTC · original post
   Light had asked about my thoughts on the game while I was afk, and that got me thinking. I've enjoyed the accelerated gameplay; building an empire to the endgame in a matter of days has been highly convenient to see what all the buildings and techs are supposed to do. But I've been imagining how it will all play out when the final version rolls around.
   
   I'm assuming build times, research costs, mining production, and maybe even ship speed will be overhauled significantly, yes? And if they are all overhauled, to what degree? That could change how the game is played significantly.How much time should a player spend growing their empire to reach the endgame? Days? Weeks? Months? Not sure if any of you frequent the forums, but if you're reading this, what would be a decent timeline for building up your empire from a single colony to the full twenty one, making your way through most all of the tech tree and building an economic and war machine to rival the ages?
2. Lyght Dev Sep 3, 2026 at 10:35 UTC
   So my thought has always been to have Seasons. Right now we're doing seasons about every week or two just to develop game play and as each season comes along we'll slowly push out the game. I've always had 3 months in my head for a season but the problem is that I need to build a better middle and end game before that can happen.
   
   I've got the first few days down really good and are fun but need to develop the game towards the middle and end. I want to keep that fun throughout. It's a delicate process to figure out.
3. Sora Sep 3, 2026 at 17:07 UTC
   Yea thats exactly also what i was thinking! I see the point in doing seasons every week/other week to test out your new inputs! but as a final for of the game i also would enjoy more time to do things in a much slower pace. If you wanna stick with seasons i also would enjoy "longer" seasons to realy build your "empire". thats just one thing im sad about the game atm (cause for me porsanlly its a little to fast)^^. other than that realy good game you are doing here and im realy glad u allow us to play/test it along side with you! :)
4. StudBeefpile Sep 4, 2026 at 01:39 UTC
   Concerning the choice between "seasons" and "Permanence" there are pros and cons to each, but I think "seasons" wins out as the better of the two choices. I'm remembering in the original Outscape, players who had grown into late game empires got bored and newer players were discouraged from getting rofl-stomped by the previously mentioned bored empires XD
   
   From simply a game development point of view, seasons allow for a timeline with which to work. You pick a timeframe and then try to balance the various timers accordingly (research timers, construction timers, production timers, etc) to match with that timeframe. Given the scope of the game, it's still a tall order, but a frame of reference I would think helps a lot.
   
   For players, it offers the chance to start afresh learning from past experiences and allows opportunity for newer players to join in without the despair of being grossly outmatched because they were a month too late in joining. There's still the problem of reconciling between top ranked players and lower ranked players, but I think the stark contrast wouldn't be as vivid in seasonal servers as much as a permanent server (though it's still a valid consideration).
   
   Personally, I think three to four months is a decent target. For a game of this nature, I could probably go about that long before the fatigue starts to set in. Though I suppose that could vary depending on the type of pace the gameplay requires and goals of the game. As I recall from the original Outscape, you could check in once or twice a day, queue up some stuff, move some fleets around, and you'd be good to go unless there was something pressing (like a war) going on. But needing to keep a close eye on your holdings every hour or two or three lest you get left behind in the dust? That gets exhausting.

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